Young execs taking the reins

Updated 8:21 pm, Monday, August 20, 2012

Sitting across conference tables from people 30 years his senior, business executive Matt Steele has been hearing the quips for years.

Where's your boss?

I asked for experienced hires.

You're my kid's age!

Twelve years ago, Steele was a new college grad, checking IDs at a bar and struggling to decide what to do with his life. Now 34, he is part of a growing cadre of 30-somethings leading deals in the energy world.

They learned about the 1970s Arab oil embargo in history class. They were just off training wheels when oil prices crashed in the 1980s. But the energy industry's rapid expansion has created new management positions.

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And the technology innovations that are fueling the energy boom have leveled the playing field for engineers across the age spectrum. The techniques that unlocked reservoirs in shale rock and other unconventional geologies, namely horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, gained steam soon after Steele and his cohorts walked the stage.

“You can go find somebody with gray hair, and they'd be good at this,” Steele said of the technology skills that his team has harnessed into a successful exploration and production company, Ursa Resources Group. “But we've got a lot of young guys who are spectacular because we've done it more than anyone else.”

Unconventional oil and gas development has spread across North America, including the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas. The total number of drilling rigs in the United States has leapt from about 850 to 1,930 over the past decade. Globally, the rig count has nearly doubled to about 3,500, according to oilfield services company Baker Hughes.

And while the industry's need for managers is growing, the pool of experienced leaders is shrinking, noted Gavin Peavoy, associate director for the Americas for recruiting firm NES Global Talent.

Students in the 1980s avoided the oil field, dissuaded by low petroleum prices and lured into burgeoning tech professions. Now there's a dearth of workers in the 40- to 60-year-old range, the ages that typically fill mid- and senior-level management roles, Peavoy said.

As a result, companies have boosted their training and put young workers on the fast track.“I equate it to flying your own airplane, and then you get called to fly a shuttle at NASA,” said Etienne Roux, 36, managing director of surface logging company Empirica.

Six years out of college, his then-employer, oil field services company Schlumberger, asked him to oversee more than 30 engineers in eastern Venezuela.

“You have to figure out how in the heck to manage a business at 28 years old,” Roux said. “There are people that you are social with, and the next day you are their manager.”

The trend is occurring across the energy business, from exploration to finance.

Michelle Smiley, 34, global business development manager for FMC Technologies, said that as she rose through the oilfield equipment company's ranks, the skepticism of some seasoned customers seemed palpable.

“I felt like when they looked at me, they saw a little kid sitting across the table,” she said. “Not only that, they saw a little girl. I had to prove my competence, and I had to do it quickly.”

Adam Anderson, the man leading Baker Hughes' Latin America business, a division pulling more than $2 billion in annual revenue, is 36.

“People generally want to work with people who are capable,” he said. “That matters much more than your age.”